The ‘cloud’ isn’t just the preserve of big businesses – chances are some of
your data is already in the cloud. Give these services a whirl to see what
all the fuss is about.

This fantastic site is so much more than just a place to store your photos (though it excels at that, allowing users with a free account to upload 300MB of pictures and two videos to the site every month); it’s also an excellent way to share photos with friends, and the built-in picture editor means your snaps will always look their best. You can even create photo books or get professional prints of your favourite pictures directly through Flickr.

Google’s suite of online document creators and editors – encompassing everything from a word processor program to presentation software and a spreadsheet creator – is free to use, and, because it’s browser-based, can be accessed from any internet-enabled device. Multiple users can collaborate on the same documents at the same time, making additions or editing existing entries.

Related Articles

This fantastic service gives users access to millions of tracks, allowing them to create and share playlists with friends, and access their account on any computer or mobile device with the relevant Spotify software installed. Opt for the free service if you don’t mind listening to adverts between every few streamed tracks, or pay £9.99 for ad-free listening and a host of other benefits. You can even upload your existing music collection to the service and listen to it over the web.

Microsoft has bought a lot of its existing products, such as Hotmail, under the Windows Live banner, and has added other products and services too to enhance the experience, such as its instant messenger software and Windows Live Essentials, which includes tools such as a photo editor and movie maker. The best bit is SkyDrive, a free virtual, cloud-based hard drive, that enables users to store and access up to 25GB of password-protected documents, photos and videos.

Think of Dropbox as a virtual filing cabinet, storing all of your important data and documents. You can install the Dropbox client on a variety of mobile phones and computer operating systems, enabling you to access them using your web-enabled device. Crucially, it also enables users to share these documents with friends or family, which comes in very handy when you want someone to be able to access your photo library or videos.